Not Today
by Iluvff
Summary: Steve has an ulterior motive for tempting Danno to take out his prized boat today. There's a murderer on the loose, and Steve needs Danno off the case and out of the way.
1. Chapter 1

**_Disclaimer:_** _"_ _Hawaii Five-0" and its characters depicted here are not original to me. This story is written for the enjoyment of the show's fans and not for profit or material gain. The story idea, though, is original to me and is protected. LBH, 2016_

 **NOT TODAY**

 ** _Author's Note:_** _This story refers back to the 3_ _rd_ _season "Hawaii Five-O" (1968-1980) episode, "Beautiful Screamer"._

 **Chapter 1**

 **1977**

"What a gorgeous day!" Dan Williams said aloud to himself as he passed by the glass doors of his lanai, moving around his apartment, putting things away to neaten up the place before he headed out. _What luck to be off when the weather's this great_. Not that it's not usually gorgeous weather in Honolulu, but some days the tropical rain falls a little more heavily and the wind whips up a little more often than others.

 _Wish I had time to just spend the whole day on a surfboard. But not today_. He'd been working so many straight days long into the night lately that the ordinary errands of a bachelor's life were going undone and piling up high—like going to the grocery store to stock up on some basic sustenance for the refrigerator, getting some money moved around at the bank, buying some stamps at the post office to pay the usual bills, picking up clothes at the cleaners, and on and on. _Kinda spoils the fun of living in paradise_ , he thought with a chuckle.

Dan's optimistic attitude kicked in, and he decided to enjoy at least having the day off and the time to catch up on the little things. In his line of work filled with tension, hurry, unpleasantness, and even danger, some mundane, mindless but necessary activity would be a relief. And not to mention, a small but important benefit – he did not have to wear a suit today! Shorts and a casual shirt—all day long!

It was still very early, and from the table in the hall he gathered up the lists, bill payments to be mailed, and cleaning pick-up slips he would need for his errands. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the door to the closet nearby was ajar, and the sun shown inside just enough to highlight an old friend—his tennis racket! _It wouldn't hurt to throw that in the back of the car, just in case. Ya' never know—I might get done with my errands and run into someone who needs a partner!_ He eagerly gripped it, closed the closet door tightly, and reached for the apartment door knob to head out for the day.

Dan Williams opened the door with his head down, thinking about which errand to tackle first. He was still smiling at himself for naughtily seizing the tennis racket, which he struggled to juggle along with the other items he was carrying. Suddenly he stopped cold and looked up when his way was blocked by someone standing in the doorway with his knuckles poised, ready to knock.

"Steve!" Danny exclaimed, surprised.

"Hi, Danno," Steve replied casually as his knock-ready fist relaxed and moved to prop itself against the door frame.

For a moment, Dan didn't know what to say. His glee at taking the tennis racket and his amusement at having a day off all to himself—well, they deflated a little, then a lot. He didn't want his boss and friend to think he wasn't welcome in his home, but this did not bode well for his plans for the day.

After a brief awkward silence and no invitation to enter, Steve ventured, "May I come in?"

Suddenly attentive to his lack of courtesy, Danno hurriedly tried to cover. "Sure, Steve, I'm sorry! Come on in. I'm just… surprised to see you, that's all."

Dressed in his usual business suit, "Uh, huh," Steve said with an understanding smile. "Nothing like having me show up to ruin a good day off," he said as he walked in. "Where are you headed?"

Danno gently kicked the door closed and followed his friend in. He stopped at the hall table and unloaded his arms of his paperwork and (gulp!) his tennis racket. Putting his hands on his hips, he said, "Well, like most people, I was hoping to go out and enjoy my day off. Ya' know, errands, a little tennis, stuff like that. Until I saw you at my door, anyway! You have something else in mind?"

"No, no, of course not! Why should I want to deprive you of all that fun?" Steve was laying it on thick. Knowing that there had to be a reason for Steve to come by this morning, Danny was waiting for the other shoe to fall, but Steve continued. "In fact, I'm just here to offer you an opportunity you can't refuse. Something that will be even more fun for you and will do me a favor all at the same time."

Wondering at the possibilities and suspicious of his friend's true intentions, Danny narrowed his eyes and said simply, with a slow, low, grave voice, "What?"

Steve shuffled a bit on his feet, reached in his pocket, and threw Danny a set of keys, which he easily caught in mid-air. "You know I've gotten a lot of work done on my boat. I'm fairly certain it's seaworthy and ready for a test drive. I want you to take it out for me today."

This was not what Danny was expecting. Shocked, he stared at Steve, then the keys. Slowly walking around past Steve and pondering the offer, he turned to face him and smiled. "You only **_THINK_** it's seaworthy?"

With a light laugh, Steve reacted with a dig, "What's the matter? You can swim."

Danny smirked at Steve, "Not that I'm not flattered by the offer, Steve," and with a sarcastic, sidelong glance, "and by your faith in my ability to swim." He furrowed his brow and expressed, "But, I don't know for certain that I could swim back to shore AND tow the boat in, too. And I wouldn't dare come back without it!"

Steve smiled broadly at that mental picture but continued to persuade. "Think of it this way: I wouldn't just let anybody take my prized boat out before even I have had a chance to! I trust you. It's a perfect day. Try it out. Let me know what you think."

Always the questioning detective, Danny searched Steve's face for the motivation behind the offer. Knowing his friend so well, he thought he saw Steve's face change just briefly from generous mirth to a concerned, watchful look and then back again.

"I can give you a lift down to the marina where it's docked. Come on, you can play tennis anytime."

Danny shook the key chain while he thought about the odd proposal and then suddenly tossed them back up in the air toward Steve, who caught them with both hands and waited for Danny to speak.

Now with a more even expression and crossing his arms in front of him, Danny said, "Come on, Steve, what gives?"

"You're too suspicious, Danno. I just think today would be a great day for you to get away from it all."

In his most serious tone, Danny flatly responded, "Why? I _know_ you didn't come over here this early in the morning because you were worried about how in the world I'd manage to entertain myself today."

Cocking his head to the side, Steve ended the ruse and walked over toward the sofa in surrender and calmly said, "No."

"May I sit?" As Danny nodded and waved his hand toward the sofa with an implied _Of course_ , Steve extended to him, "Last chance, though, to take me up on my offer…."

Danny shook his head 'no' as he took the seat angled away from the sofa.

Silence. "I'm waiting," Danny offered, patiently.

Steve drew in a deep breath and intertwined his fingers together in front of him as if wondering how to begin. Then, looking straight at Danny sitting across from him, he said firmly, "Danno, I _do not_ want you to get involved in what's going on today. Don't take this the way it's going to sound, but I need you out of the way."

Danny looked stunned and hurt but rallied to respond sarcastically. "I didn't realize I got… 'in your way'."

Rushing to dispel that idea, Steve quickly replied, "Danno, please. That's not what I meant."

Looking to see if the hurt look was still there, Steve had no choice but to confess his true motives. "A murderer escaped from custody earlier this morning at the hospital-someone we put away. I knew even on your day off you would hear about it. We're going to find him, but in the meantime we can't do that if I have to worry about you."

Danny's eyes had recovered from the hurt he'd initially felt and now just looked concerned and confused. "Is this someone who has threatened me? Who is it?"

Reassuringly but vaguely, Steve answered, "I don't know that there is any active threat, but I _am_ trying to protect you…."

Leaning forward in his seat, Danny interrupted, with urgency and impatience, "WHO is it, Steve?"

Steve paused. "Walter Gregson."

Shaken, Danny slowly let himself fall against the back cushion of the chair. Without blinking, his eyes drifted toward some unidentifiable point in the carpet, where he just stared.

Steve watched Danno carefully and tried to read how he was taking the news that the murderer of his beloved Jane Michaels had slipped the bonds of imprisonment. Despite Danny's silent non-reaction, Steve plunged on with his directives. "Remember what I said, Danno. You've got to stay out of this. We've got our guys and HPD out following all leads. We'll bring him in."

With still no more than silence from his friend, Steve broached a question to try to bring him out of his faraway thoughts. "Danno, I do need to ask you something. Do you know where his ex-wife Sally Clark Gregson is now?" No answer. "Danno?"

Danny's eyes lifted calmly towards Steve's then back again to the carpet. "What? Sally? Ummm, she's not living in the Islands anymore. She got remarried and moved to the mainland. Arizona, maybe. Phoenix, I think."

"Good. Gregson can't get off this rock, so she should be safe."

After a few more moments of stillness amid confident words from Steve that he didn't even hear, Danny broke his stare and was suddenly in a hurry. He bounded up and out of the chair and headed toward his bedroom. Steve was up in a flash as well, "Danno? Danno? Where are you going?"

Steve heard Danny's voice yell to him as he entered the other room. "To change clothes and get my gun."

Steve stalked after him and gripped Danny by the back of the shoulder. He spun him around gently yet spoke decisively. "No, you're not! You're going away for the day, away from the phones and the media, and you're going to let us handle Gregson. Is that clear?"

Giving his boss a rare cold glaring look, Danny shrugged out of Steve's shoulder hold and proceeded into the bedroom. Steve stood defiantly in the bedroom doorway as Danny opened his closet, pulled out some clothes and headed toward the bathroom to change.

Danny shouted to be heard from the other room to argue with Steve as he changed. "Steve, I need to be out there. I need to know that he is found and returned to prison where he belongs for what he did. He killed two totally innocent women-as a ruse, all because he was greedy! And he would have killed his own wife, too, if we hadn't stopped him."

Danny reappeared with his clothes mostly changed and just still buttoning his shirt. He pleaded his case, "Steve, I was in the circle of friends with Gregson! He killed practically right under my nose, and I couldn't see what was happening! I need to help find him."

"Danno, this is a mistake!" Steve replied flatly.

"Why don't you want me involved?" Danny pursued, as his fingers worked quickly to tie his necktie.

Answering the question that he believed Danny should already know the answer to, he tried to state the obvious as patiently as he could. "Because Gregson hates you and you hate Gregson, with good reason."

Pulling down the final loop of his tie, Danny stopped in place and listened to Steve. "If you go after Gregson and all that anger comes out again, you might just dig yourself into a legal hole so deep you can't get out. You'll ruin everything, your career, maybe your life. And for what? Him? He's not worth it."

Steve admitted, "My biggest fear is that you will find him, and then what will you do? Do you remember when you found him before? If Kono hadn't backed you up that day and come upon your fight with Gregson, you would have let him dangle off that cliff until he fell!"

"But I didn't, did I?" Danny moved to counter Steve's argument, as he went to retrieve his .38 revolver from the bedside drawer, checked that it was fully loaded, holstered it to his side, and turned to face Steve across the room.

He softened toward his boss, and reassured him, "I'll be all right." Danny looked away as he admitted, "Ya' know…it's been a long time now."

"Six years," Steve declared. "And I remember like it was yesterday how devastated you were when Jane was found dead."

Danny slowed as he remembered coming to the murder scene and crumbling at the realization of his loss. And he remembered how Steve and Chin had supported him that day, physically and emotionally, and for days to come.

Seeing Danny's thoughts wander back to that saddest of times, Steve reached out to him, put his strong hand on his shoulder and used his softest tone yet toward his friend, "There were days…," he paused, "when I wondered if you'd ever recover. It was a full year—a YEAR!—before you were yourself again. I don't want to see you go through that again. Not today…, not ever."

Danny turned to speak directly and purposefully. "Steve, please. Don't order me not to get involved in this search. Don't put me in that position."

Steve didn't have to think about his reply. "Then don't put me in the position of having to beach you. Do you remember pleading with me to be in on the original murder investigation? An innocent man said a cross word to you and you nearly beat him to death."

"I know! I know!" Danny exclaimed. "You don't have to bring up all the bad memories. Believe me, they're not buried very deep!"

"That's what I mean!"

Pleading, he continued. "Steve, I can't just sit here and ignore Gregson's escape. I owe it to Jane to put him back in prison." _Maybe I owe it to Gregson, too!_ he thought.

"Danno, you said it yourself—it was a long time ago and you were finally able to move on. Leave it in the past."

With his melancholy mood deepening, Danno turned again toward the closet, reached up high to a shelf, and pulled down a plain rectangle-shaped box. "The past, huh?" he sighed as he opened it. "Take a look, Steve. Walter Gregson didn't just rob Jane of her future. He robbed me of my future, too." Danny pulled out the framed photo of Jane's lovely face that Danno had displayed in his apartment when she died. He stared at it and her handwritten words at the bottom, "All My Love, Jane."

Steve peered into the box at what had been stored below the photograph. He picked up a bulletin from Jane's funeral service and uncovered the remnants of a white boutonniere and a small black velveteen jewelry box. His heart skipped a beat and he drew in a sharp breath, as he could not keep himself from picking it up and opening the hinged lid. Inside was a beautiful, pristine diamond solitaire gold ring—as delicate as the woman for whom it was meant, as untouched as she is now in her grave.

He looked up to see that Danny was watching him. Danny put down the framed photo and gently took the ring box out of Steve's hand to see it closer again himself. "I never got to give it to her, and I'll never give it to anyone else. I just keep it, to remember…."

"Danno, why did you never tell me about this? About your plans to marry Jane?"

"What was the point? She was gone. Everybody felt terrible about it, felt terrible for me—this would have only made it worse. So I kept it to myself." He matter-of-factly closed the ring box, replaced it and all the other memories in the cardboard box, put it on his shelf, and closed the closet door.

"We'd better go, Steve."

Steve wavered. He knew this was a bad idea. "Danno?"

"What?"

Placing his hand on Danno's back, he said, "Just stay close, OK? I don't want you out there alone today."

With an appreciative smile, Danny agreed. "Right, Steve."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The door to the Hawaii Five-O outer offices swung open and in strode Steve McGarrett, quickly, broadly—the king of his castle entering his domain and clearly owning it, as usual. Behind him followed Dan Williams just as quickly, looking a little self-conscious but deadly serious—not the fun-loving detective's usual demeanor around the office. Not making eye contact with anyone, he knew that today the eyes of his friends and colleagues would be on him. He knew what they were thinking. _What is he doing here? How is he reacting to the news? Will he be OK?_

So much like it had been…after Jane died.

Danny went straight into his office to check his desk for his mail and phone messages, while Steve proceeded into his big office, leaving the door open. Glancing at Danny in his cubicle as he walked, Chin followed Steve, talking as he went.

"We found out that there were some clothes stolen overnight from a patient's room at the hospital—could be that Gregson took them, got rid of his hospital gown, and redressed to look like an ordinary hospital visitor. There was a little money in the pants pockets—not much but maybe enough to get him bus fare, maybe a taxi ride. That's all we've got, so far, boss."

"What about Gregson's friends in prison?" Steve asked while standing and perusing his own messages on his desk.

"Ben is at the prison to find out if Gregson has any links to someone on the streets who could help him. But Gregson was never a part of the street scene. It's not likely that he could get any help there or that he would even try to tap into that," Chin offered pessimistically.

Steve thought through Chin's words. "Unless he has no one else to turn to. He's probably desperate. He's got to know we're looking under every rock for him. Danno says that Gregson's wife—his ex-wife—isn't even in the islands anymore, so he can't turn to her—not that she would help him, since his whole scheme years ago was supposed to end in her death."

At a pause in the conversation, Chin looked behind him into the outer office as he walked over closer to Steve's desk to speak to him quietly. "Steve, what is Danny doing here? I thought you were going to send him off for the day to keep him out of this?"

Steve sighed and sat down heavily in his desk chair, running both his hands down the front of his face in frustration. "Chin," he hesitated. "First of all, he didn't buy my bit about the boat. I had to tell him what was going on with Gregson's escape. And then," he hesitated again. He paused as his mind's eye went back to the box of mementos on the high shelf in Danno's closet, and how Danno calmly fingered them and talked about them as if it was someone else's life Gregson had destroyed. He continued, "Then…, I couldn't say no. Besides, he wasn't taking 'no' for an answer, even from me." He looked up at Chin, resigned to Danno's need to be on the team today.

"Maybe it really has been long enough in the past that he can deal with it and wants to help us just locate Gregson and get him back in prison," Chin suggested, still speaking quietly and keeping an eye on the open door behind him.

"Maybe. I hope so." Steve thought a few seconds, canted his head, then spoke in a low, concerned voice, "He's so… so calm about it..., but very determined to find Gregson. And we need all the hands we can get."

Chin offered generously, "We'll keep a close eye on him, boss."

Smiling, Steve was confident in his men's mutual concern for their colleague. "I know you will, Chin. Thanks."

 **Hawaii Five-O ~ Hawaii Five-O ~ Hawaii Five-O ~ Hawaii Five-O ~ Hawaii Five-O ~ Hawaii Five-O**

The foursome of Five-O detectives re-convened in the big office after following leads in Gregson's escape. But the leads were few and didn't take long to dead end. The prisoner had been in the hospital since yesterday morning, guarded, undergoing some continuing tests on a heart condition the prison doctors had recently discovered in him.

Despite being imprisoned for life on multiple charges, Gregson had a reputation for being a model prisoner. Although he had two guards with him that knew him well from the prison, he used his "model prisoner" label to outsmart them when he had a rare opportunity to slip away. He had fled quietly into the corridors of the hospital, re-dressed to appear as an everyday sort, melted into the ordinary crowd of early-morning arrivals for outpatient procedures and, from there, disappeared. The hospital had been thoroughly searched, and he was very gone.

From the prison, Ben found out that the "model prisoner" Gregson had been a loner. He believed himself above the common pushers, druggies, thieves, and even the professional killers he came into contact with. After all, he had been the wealthy head of his own construction company, built it from the ground up and supervised huge crews of big hulking men. He had dealt million-dollar deals as easily as if he were trading peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for ham and cheese in a school cafeteria. He had no use for the convicts with whom he was surrounded.

Ben reported, "He mostly talked to the guards-and made friends with them," probably aiding in his eventual easy escape. No doubt the guards would be guards no longer…, but that wouldn't help Five-O to find the escapee now.

The All-Points-Bulletin had cast a very wide net all over Oahu. Every police officer was looking for Walter Gregson, but so far he had been well-hidden in whatever hole he had burrowed into. HPD had worked for hours canvassing the vicinity around the hospital, looking for Gregson and anyone who might have spotted or aided him.

Everyone in the room was surreptitiously keeping an eye on Danny. He was calm and unusually detached but extremely focused on the case. They listened intently as he spoke up, "I called Sally, Steve, in Phoenix. She needed to know about Walter's 'newfound freedom'."

"What did she say?" Steve questioned, with narrowed eyes.

Matter-of-factly, Danny reported, "She was concerned, but I assured her that there was no danger to her because of the distance and the unlikelihood that Walter could get off the island. Just in case, though, I talked to the Phoenix police and made sure they were aware of Gregson. Oh, and Sally did give us some names of Gregson's old friends and associates to check with."

Chin picked up the thread there, "Yeah, I checked them out already. Those who are still around had also known Sally. They pretty much disowned Gregson once they found out he was killing people just to get hold of Mrs. Gregson's money. He won't find any help from them."

"So here we are, gentlemen. Let's expand the primary search area even further beyond the hospital. Chin, Ben, keep checking the cab companies, the bus routes, any transportation he could have come up with. Get with HPD and see where you can help them out in tracing his steps."

Chin and Ben headed toward the door to the outer office when the intercom buzzer on Steve's desk sounded. Quickly hitting the button, he heard Jenny's voice, "Boss, there's a phone call for Danny on line one. The man is insisting it's urgent."

Looking up at Danny, Steve replied, "OK, Jenny, put it through," then casually wandered to the far side of the desk to give Danny the room he needed to get to the phone.

Danny walked over to the corner of Steve's desk and propped on it as he reached and answered it as he usually did, "Williams".

The as-yet-unidentified male voice on the phone line was a polished one. It sounded like a businessman or a banker, with a hint of a British accent or well-traveled, upper-crust American. "Hello, Dan. Sorry to disturb your meeting, but I thought I'd find out if you've been…uh…looking for me?" The mockery was blatant.

Dan Williams' eyes opened wide as he recognized the voice but stifled a gasp. "Gregson," he said in a restrained growl. Steve's eyes darted toward Williams, as did Chin's and Ben's. All three honed in on his location at Steve's desk, wanting to confirm what they thought they had heard.

From a phone booth in what looked to be an isolated area, Walter went on with his silver-tongued discourse. "That's right. I'm so pleased you remember. Oh, of course you would…." he taunted.

Coming back to reality from his abject surprise, Danny covered the phone's mouthpiece with his hand, and mouthed to Ben,

 _"_ _[trace!]"_

Ben backpedaled out of Steve's door as fast and as silently as he could to the outer office where he could phone in to have the call traced. Chin followed him part of the way, standing at the doorway to relay the information back and forth about the progress of the trace. Steve ran to his desk and quickly, quietly pressed the PLAY and RECORD buttons simultaneously on the ever-present tape recorder on his desk.

To keep Gregson on the line for the trace, Danny knew he had to force himself to play along with the caller. He utterly despised this man, as evidenced by the sharp tone of his words. "What do you want?"

"I just couldn't wait to give you a call, old friend!" Feigning disappointment, Gregson teased, "Aren't you looking for me?" with a wicked smirk on his face.

Danny tensed, wavering between wanting to throw the phone out of the palace window—and the caller with it—and knowing he needed to keep Gregson on the line. With difficulty, he continued as evenly as he could. "I know you're out of prison, if that's what you mean. But I've got better things to do than worry about you. I don't doubt you'll be back in custody before the end of the day." Danny had no trouble at all in sounding uncaring—he did care about whether this snake of a man was caught again, but could not care less about the welfare of the man himself.

Gregson was smart and was not fooled by Dan's nonchalant attitude about his escape. He was confident that he was shaking the detective up—and loved every minute of it. "Well, I'm sure somebody is worried about me, and maybe it _should_ be you. And don't bother trying to trace this call; I'm just about done here."

Straining to extend the conversation, Danny spoke more loudly this time. "So what do you want from me? The only help I'll give you is a free ride back to Oahu State Prison for the rest of your life with all the other scum who don't deserve their freedom."

Insulted, "I am not one of them!" Gregson yelled into the phone.

Growing angrier by the minute, Dan now knew what he wanted to say. "Sure you are! But, you know something that you're not? You're not a pro—at anything! You never were! You couldn't keep your construction company afloat without draining Sally's money. Now, you wouldn't know how to make it on the streets if we gave you a manual. You think your old Country Club friends will help you? They know you're a murderer, and a coward! They'd rather turn you in just to keep you from dirtying their doormats. You've got no place to run, and that's why you're gonna get caught. Enjoy your freedom, Walter—it won't last long."

Taken aback by the truth of Williams' tirade, Gregson tried to cover with his superior attitude. "I expected you to say as much." He paused, then said, "Tell your friends in Five-O and HPD that I'm not going back to prison. I'd rather they kill me!"

"Oh, really?" Dan replied coolly. "I'll be glad to see what I can do about granting your wish."

"I'll bet you would."

Walter pressed on, spitefully. "Tell me, Danny Boy, it's been about six years since I took your sweet little Jane from you. My, she was a beauty. By now, you two could have had a nice little house together on the beach, maybe a couple of kids…. You'll never find another girl like her." Walter Gregson's words were dripping with false sympathy and underlying hate. "Have you been lonely, Dan?"

 **Click.**

Dan Williams froze at the words and the disconnection. Unknowingly, he picked a vague point in space to hold his gaze.

The pain in his heart was back. Contained—no, hidden—for so long. The pain was so real that it crept from his heart up into his throat, practically cutting off his breath. But he didn't need to breathe—he was unmoving, catatonic.

Steve McGarrett had not heard Walter Gregson's side of the conversation, only Danny's. He clicked off the tape recorder and dearly hoped the conversation had been long enough to get a trace, but he would know that in time.

What really mattered now was his friend, who looked as though he had been stabbed in the heart and pinned against some invisible wall, unable to move. As frozen as Danny was, so was Steve as he waited on a reaction.

When it came, it was volcanic.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Suddenly frozen no longer, Dan Williams blinked and lowered the handset from his ear just enough so he could grab the telephone base with both hands. Then he raised his hands high over his head and with anger and an ear-splitting growl, he crashed the phone down against Steve's massive wooden desk. Again and again he smashed it until it was broken in multiple pieces of plastic and metal. He wished it had been Walter Gregson himself.

"Danno! Stop!" Steve charged at his friend, trying to clutch his arms. "Danno! Stop it!" Steve's extra height on Danny helped him do just that. He shook what was left of the broken telephone out of Danny's hands and pulled his arms down and back behind him—not hard enough to hurt him but enough to contain the violent reaction.

With another loud angry snarl, Dan shook out of Steve's now loose hold and stalked out onto the lanai. Filled with hatred, he grasped the protruding finials of the balcony and roared out unintelligible rage to anyone who could hear.

All the while, the wind blew through the office, but no one noticed. Chin hovered mutely in the background. Ben came in from the outer office to report on the trace but could not utter a word when he saw his friend in such a fury.

Steve focused only on Danny, letting the anger work itself out. Honestly, though, he did not know whether to go to Danny or whether Danny even knew he was still nearby. Steve stood thunderstruck on the inside of the lanai doorway. Dan Williams was in his own world at this moment, with Steve afraid to disturb it.

Danny huffed and puffed with all his breath again and again until he was exhausted physically and emotionally. After a while, with his voice and energy expended, he turned his back on the city, leaned against the balcony railing, and melted—tiredly sliding his body down until he was seated on the lanai's hard floor. He reclined his head back and closed his eyes tightly against the world.

In his head, Danny's thoughts swirled. He had rarely felt rage like this, even fewer times had he acted on it in the uncontrollable way he just had. It scared him.

Worriedly, Steve approached him and crouched down on his feet to be at eye level with his now quiet, but still seething, friend. "Danno?"

At Steve's words, Danny opened his eyes and turned to look at him. He saw Steve's face filled with concern and anxiety. For a few moments, the two just stared at each other. In Danny's face, Steve saw raw anger slowly turn into recognition of reality and resignation to it. "Are you all right, Danno?"

Danny did not answer. _I don't know,_ he thought, but the silent stares between the two men let Steve know that Danny was cooling down.

Concerned, Chin and Ben approached cautiously. Ben spoke softly, "Steve, the call wasn't long enough for a definitive trace."

Not taking his eyes off Danny but acknowledging Ben's words, Steve distractedly answered, "OK. Thanks."

Bending down, Chin also spoke, "Danny, you okay?" Again, Danny did not answer, but averted his eyes from all three of his colleagues. He felt crowded.

Turning to Chin and Ben, Steve answered the question for Danny, confidently, reassuringly, "He will be." Then he added, "Give us a minute, gentlemen." Honoring the request, Chin and Ben left Steve's office and closed the door silently.

Turning back, Steve asked again, "Danno?"

This time, Danny answered, "I'm okay." Steve sighed, glad for some kind of response, even if he didn't believe that it was true. With the fog in his mind clearing, Danny tried to sound more normal than he felt. With a shaky voice, he stated, "You know, Steve, this is why you get the big bucks."

Confused at the response, Steve asked, "What do you mean?"

Slowing getting his equilibrium back, Danny clarified, "You were right. I can't do this. I can't trust myself with Gregson. What if I did corner him? I'm afraid…I'm afraid I might kill him."

Without doubt, Steve reassured him. "No. No, you wouldn't, not unless you were forced to. I know you better than that. Tempted? Yes. But kill him in revenge? Never."

Danny recounted Gregson's words from the phone call. "Steve, he said on the phone he won't be taken alive. He'd rather die than go back to prison." Danny got a faraway look in his eyes, imaging the worst. "If I found him, and if I were pushed to kill him, how would you ever know if it were justified? How would **_I_** ever know if there had not been another way?"

Steve just listened.

Having made his decision, Danny went on, resigned to his realization. "I can't deal with him, even after all these years, and I shouldn't be on this case. Just like I should never have been on Jane's murder case years ago. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have attacked Pete King when he was totally innocent."

Steve reminded him, "But you broke the case. You put all the pieces together for us about Gregson and his wife and her friends."

Shaking his head, Danny was resolute. "But you and HPD can find him without me today. Gregson can't survive long out there alone. He'll turn up, but you're going to have a difficult time bringing him in peacefully."

Stating the bottom line as he saw it, he said, "And, I am—a liability."

Steve nodded in acceptance and stood up. He offered his hand to his friend on the lanai floor to help him up, and Danny stood. "I'd like you to keep me updated on where you are today. Are you going home?"

"Yeah, I think I will," Danny confirmed, "maybe by way of a bar with a good supply of scotch." At that, he looked over pointedly at Steve to see the expected disapproving look-and was not disappointed. "Or…maybe I'll take you up on your offer of the boat."

Steve looked to his desk and picked up what was left of his telephone. "I don't know, Danno," he said, as he solemnly turned the broken equipment in his hand to examine it. "I'm suddenly a little worried about whether my boat would come back in one piece," he quipped.

With a chagrined look, Danny apologized. "Sorry about that, Steve. I'll be more careful with the boat, I promise."

Steve fished out the keys to his boat from his pocket, handed them to Danny, then reached over and put his hand on Danny's shoulder and said, "I know you will. But… on your way out, YOU have to be the one to tell Jenny to get someone in here to replace the phone!"

Then Steve turned serious once again. "You sure you're all right?"

Sighing appreciatively, Danny said, "Like you said, Steve, I will be." With a tired voice, he added, "Just catch him, and let me know when it's over." Steve nodded supportively, and Danny left the office under his own steam.

After Danny had closed the door behind him, Steve sat down at his desk, pressed the button to rewind the tape of the phone call between Dan Williams and Walter Gregson, looked up at the door that Danny had just walked out of and wondered, _Will it ever be over for you, my friend?_

The rewinding of the tape stopped. Steve pressed PLAY and listened.

 **H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O**

Dan Williams felt drained as he dragged himself home. He was tired of thinking about Walter Gregson, of remembering Jane's murder, of feeling and acting less than professional about an escapee and his victim.

 _Why had Gregson called him? To gloat at his freedom? To dare him to find him? To get back at him for sending him to prison? To rub salt in the wound of his loss so many years ago?_

On and on the thoughts tumbled, mixed with recollections of Gregson's last ugly words, his loss of control in Steve's office, and his fear at his own anger and what it was capable of making him do under the proper circumstances.

He had been half-serious when he considered spending the rest of the evening drinking himself into a stupor until the consuming thoughts from today were pressed down beneath his conscious awareness. Instead, he thought better of it and put himself on automatic pilot to get home in the Five-O LTD.

It was getting late to consider taking the boat out today. If he hadn't heard from Steve by in the morning that they had tracked down Gregson, then he would take the boat out first thing tomorrow. The beauty and peacefulness of the ocean and the solitude would calm him down, and the distance from the tension of the search would do him good. Plus, Gregson couldn't reach him by phone there.

At the moment, though, the tension was still very close. As he turned the key in the lock of his apartment, he again thought he'd like to have a good, stiff drink, but at least he would be-

 ** _THWACK!_** came something hard, heavy, and sharp on the back of Dan Williams' head as he entered his darkened apartment. He collapsed forward into the carpet, dazed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Danny just barely could make out the sound of the apartment door closing behind him. On the floor of his apartment, Danny more fully awoke as his gun was being jerked out of its holster at his side. Recognizing the danger, he immediately tried to scramble to his feet. But the pain in his head was terrible, he was too dizzy to stand up, and he could only manage to get to a crouching position in time to see Walter Gregson aim the .38 police special at his face.

"Don't move another inch." Indicating the gun, Walter continued, "I do assume this is fully loaded."

Despite his disadvantage at being at point blank range of a gun held by a murderer with nothing to lose, Danny was determined not to give the gunman the satisfaction of acting surprised, frightened, or even injured. Therefore, his expression betrayed none of that and was sublimely neutral. "First you call me. Then you show up here at my apartment. **_Why?_** " he complained.

"I was hungry… I needed a place to stay… I was in the neighborhood… and I made sure you were at the office before I made myself at home here," he explained with a desperate smile. "I've already enjoyed the hospitality of your kitchen pantry…oh, and your liquor cabinet, too. It had been just too long since I had had a little Scotch—I couldn't resist. Too bad you won't get a chance to restock."

Dan looked sternly at Gregson and studied his captor. "You are one stupid haole! Of all the places in Honolulu you could go, you choose to come here? I just don't get you."

Gregson was quite pleased with himself. "Stupid? I'm out of prison, my belly is full, and I have your gun. I'm not doing too badly now, am I?"

The back of Danny's head was smarting, and he was still exhausted from his angry stunt in Steve's office earlier. So, his retort was subdued. "But where do you go from here? You can't hide forever. Everyone's looking for you. Your picture has been burned into the minds of every law enforcement person in the islands in the last 24 hours. Eventually, someone's going to come looking for me, and a lot of my friends happen to be cops."

Gregson gloated. "I'm not worried, and I'm just so happy to be out of that hell hole called prison. You see, I have just had a run of good fortune lately. My escape at the hospital wasn't planned, you know. No, it was just serendipitous luck that my friends, the guards, were being as inattentive as to allow me the perfect opportunity I needed to scurry away. And as I told you on the phone, I will not go back to prison."

"As if you have any control over that. You can't hide for long. There are just a few ways in and out of Oahu, and every route is being watched. Remember, we're on an island—you know, surrounded by water? A little like…," Dan smirked just a little, "Alcatraz."

The reminders made Gregson furious. "Don't try to intimidate me, Williams! I'm _not_ your average criminal! I am educated and…brilliant, compared to those other cretins in prison!"

 _Act smart, Williams; act like a cop,_ Danny thought. _Don't let him bait you._ "Killing innocent women as a ruse to cover the murder of your own wife? For her money. What do you call that? Oh, yeah – did you say brilliant? You got caught, Gregson! How brilliant can you be?"

The culprit knew well that to reveal more of his thoughts was to twist the figurative dagger into Williams. "Of course, I admit, I have had some time to ponder what it was that sent me to prison. It was my miscalculation of you in Jane's life. She was not meant to be the next victim, you know."

Dan suddenly felt goose bumps all over. Every nerve in his body tensed as he heard the mention of Jane's name on the lips of her killer. And that, she could have—what?—lived to see their future realized? "What do you mean?"

"I would not have chosen to kill a cop's girlfriend. But when Jane overheard us arguing at the charity auction, my choice was made for me. You see, she could have testified that Sally and I were having problems. So, I had to get rid of her. But then there was you…and Five-O… so doggedly determined to solve the case. Maybe your office wouldn't have tried so hard if it hadn't been so personal."

It occurred to Danny that he should defend Five-O as being dogged about every investigation, but what was the point? He didn't really care what Gregson thought. He did care that Jane might not have had to die at all. But would he-or even Jane-have wanted that if it meant another of her circle of friends would have been murdered in her place?

 _Dan! Stop thinking about Jane! Stop being the victim and be the cop! Think of how to get the upper hand over the escaped prisoner in front of you!_

Danny blinked hard and came out of his reverie. He pulled himself together, gathered his reserves, and started to stand, even while Gregson held the gun on him.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Gregson questioned in panic. "Stay where you are!"

Danny firmly refused. "No."

 ** _BRRRRRRRRRRRRINNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGG_**. With impeccable timing, Dan's apartment telephone rang and startled Gregson. He turned his head toward the source of the sound at the far side of the room.

Danny took the opportunity of the distraction to lunge at Gregson, ducking under the aim of the gun, taking hold of him around his waist, and pushing him into a table and onto the floor. Trying to wrestle his .38 from Gregson's hand, Danny saw the gun sway away from being aimed a few inches from his face, then back again. Gregson was strong!

As they struggled, Dan's eyes were constantly on the gun, until he felt Gregson's teeth clamp down hard through his shirt sleeve on his right arm. "Oooooooowwwwwwww!" Dan yelled out as he jerked his arm away, losing his light hold on the gun, and strategically rolling to the left, behind the sofa.

Gregson struggled to stand, aimed the gun wildly and then followed the direction that Williams had rolled. He didn't want to fire the gun yet, worrying the sound itself would bring the unwelcome company of Williams' cop friends.

Suddenly, Gregson felt his feet go out from under him as Danny appeared and tackled his legs and held on until he fell. He kicked at Williams, as he felt Williams let go of his legs. As Gregson reoriented himself, Danny scampered away.

Gregson sat up quickly with the gun aimed in Williams' direction, and his guess at his opponent's current position was very good. He clearly saw Williams crouching on the floor with his eyes staring up at Gregson and the barrel of the gun.

But what Walter Gregson also saw facing him was a second gun, a shiny silver .22 in Dan Williams' right hand.

Gregson heard Williams say with a challenge, "Two can play this game."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Each man sat tensely on the floor, 15 feet away from the one he hated most in the world. Each held his gun squarely aimed at the other, unblinking, unflinching, unspeaking for several minutes.

"Looks like we have a standoff," Dan Williams spoke first.

Gregson answered, "Hardly. I'm being kind by not killing you—yet. This .38 will do more damage than that little gun you're holding."

"At this distance? My bet would not be on you, Gregson." Thinking a little cockiness would not hurt an already bad situation, Dan spoke, "I don't suppose you noticed what that trophy you hit me with at the door was for?"

Gregson looked blank.

"Marksmanship."

Gregson had no witty reply, so Danny pressed his challenge. "I could shoot this .22 to knock the .38 out of your hand…, or hit you right between the eyes."

"Not before I would kill you outright," Gregson proclaimed. "I may not be the marksman that you are, but as you said, 'at this distance,' it would be too easy…and very satisfying to me personally."

"But you lose either way. Any shot at all will bring down a net of cops over you and you'll be back in prison in no time…, if you survive."

Gregson glowered at Williams, knowing the truth of his statement.

 ** _BRRRRRRRRRRRRINNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGG_** again rang the apartment telephone.

This time, each gunman continued to concentrate his aim at the other. Neither moved.

 **H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~**

Steve McGarrett replaced the handset back down on the telephone's base on Jenny's desk. _No answer. I would like to talk to him again—make sure he's OK. I'll try again later._

Having listened to the taped phone conversation between Danno and Walter Gregson, McGarrett was angry at the taunting nature of Gregson's call.

 _"_ _By now, you two could have had a nice little house together on the beach, maybe a couple of kids…. Have you been lonely, Dan?"_

On the heels of having discovered just that morning the extent of Danno's relationship with Jane Michaels and his plans for their marriage, Steve felt the pain especially keenly for his friend. _What an ugly piece of work!_

 **H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~**

Dan Williams silently berated himself for letting the situation in his apartment get to this state. Gregson could do a lot of damage with Danny's .38 police special that he held. Even if Danny's skilled shot from his little .22 caliber gun could be more precisely aimed, it wouldn't matter a lot in the end.

 _I can't just let this go on. I'll fire at his hand, and he'll drop the gun. The bullet might go through his hand right to his chest_ _. "I'd rather they kill me…"_ _Gregson had said._

 _Yes! I HOPE it goes to his chest! I hope it kills him._

 ** _I want to kill him._** _I want to kill him._

 **H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~**

As the situation in the apartment lengthened, Walter Gregson uncharacteristically questioned his own brilliance.

 _The cop is right! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Why did it matter so much to me to get to this guy?! Maybe because it's the last thing I'll ever do?_

 _Maybe because if I had had the forethought not to kill the one girl whose boyfriend was a top cop, I could have gotten away with it and had Sally's money all to myself. Why didn't I THINK back then? It might have worked if it hadn't been for him._

 _I hope he's suffered. Probably not! He's had his freedom! He's moved on to other girlfriends, I'm sure, while I've… I've rotted in a cell with the scum of the earth—forced to be with them, and be subject to their sordid lifestyles. They have no idea who I am!_

 _I won't go back there. I can't. Either I've got to get away, or die trying. And if Williams dies—well, all the better._

 **H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~**

 _Get hold of yourself, Williams! As much as I'd like to kill Gregson, there'd be questions. Steve would know I would have recognized the possibility of hitting his chest, so there'd be no excuse. And it wouldn't be right. It wouldn't be right._

 _I could shoot at the window above him. A .22 wouldn't shatter it, but it might be enough to draw the neighbors' and HPD's attention…, but then he'll just fire the .38 at me. He's bound to hit me this close._

 _I don't care…. I can't let him get away. Not after what he did to Jane._

 _And I can't take any more of this standoff. I'll take the first opportunity…_

 **H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~**

 _So, that's it—shoot to kill and then get away before the cops come._

"Hand over your car keys, Williams."

He didn't expect that but had no doubt he wasn't going to make it easy for Gregson to get away.

"No." Danny stared back mockingly.

In the next moment, he realized he could read Gregson's thoughts – _he'll shoot first, and then get the keys without a fight._ So, reluctantly, he reached in his coat pocket with his left hand and dangled keys between himself and his adversary. "Come and get them."

 ** _BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!_**

It wasn't the phone this time.

It was the doorbell.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The thoughts flashed through Danny's mind at lightning speed. _Steve—I hope! He'll end this._

 _But what if it's somebody else? Another friend, a neighbor, an innocent bystander? I've got to warn them._

Taking the distraction as a gift, Danny suddenly threw the keys in his left hand hard toward his enemy as Gregson was surprised by both the buzz of the doorbell and the thrown keys. Danny fired a shot upward toward the window to warn the visitor at the door. Within an instant, he was moving to knock the gun from a temporarily befuddled Gregson's hand, but the escaped murderer's hold on it was tight. They struggled for control of the .38, while Danny still tried to maintain a handhold on his .22.

Without real skill but with a lot of luck, Gregson managed to angle the gun strangely toward Danny's body and fire a single round. The close-range blast from his own firearm threw Danny backward until he was almost flat on his back on the floor. Still conscious, and with determination and fading clear-headedness, Danny lifted his head and arm to look at Gregson. He didn't really aim but fired his .22 twice in Gregson's direction. Gregson was a moving target as he reached for the keys on the floor, but even so Danny hit him with both bullets—in the shoulder and the abdomen. Recognizing that the small caliber bullets had not stopped his attacker, Danny struggled to roll away to take refuge from more bullets from the .38 Gregson held.

At the sound of the initial gunshots inside the apartment, Steve McGarrett pulled his gun, kicked boldly at the door and burst through it, ducking as he did. Gregson, still fully alert and on his feet, swung his arm around toward the apartment door and fired wildly. McGarrett recognized his enemy immediately, dodged his badly aimed bullets, and quickly returned fire, expertly drilling Gregson to the floor with a third shot to his body.

Entering the apartment, McGarrett warily went over to Gregson's sprawled body. He instantly recognized the gun as a .38 police special and kicked it away. Leaning down to touch Gregson, he felt several times for a carotid pulse but was unsurprised to find it absent. Walter Gregson would not be going back to prison, as the escapee himself had predicted.

Turning his attention from the perpetrator of the violence, he scanned the immediate area and called in a panicked voice, "Danno! Danno! Where are you?" Taking just a few footsteps, he saw where Dan Williams mutely lay, bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound in his lower middle chest.

Steve unknowingly let out a loud groan of his own at the sight. Rushing, he re-holstered his gun, fell down to his knees beside Danny and hastily put one hand under the injured man's head and the other firmly on the bloody hole in his friend's body.

Seeing Danny's eyelids open but unblinking, Steve pleaded with him for some acknowledgement that his eyes were still seeing, not blankly left open in death. "Danno, talk to me! Please! Please!"

Danny's head did not move, but his blue eyes turned vaguely, hauntingly, toward Steve. As Steve drew closer, he could barely hear the shallow breaths Danny struggled to take. Sighing in at least temporary relief, Steve whispered, "Good, good! Just hold on… I'm going to call an ambulance!"

First, Steve looked around and took a pillow from a chair and firmly put it over the wound. Then, he uncurled Danny's fingers from around the trigger of the small pistol that Danny still held so he could lift the hand to lie on top of the pillow, to give at least a semblance of pressure to the wound while he reached over for the phone.

Pulling the phone to where he could use it while sitting on the floor near Danny's side, Steve made the call for emergency medical assistance then replaced Danny's slack hand on the pillow with the heavy pressure of his own hand. Cradling the phone between his face and his shoulder, he barked out urgent orders for a speedy response.

All the while, Steve tried to hold Danny's silent gaze as firmly as he held the pillow over the hemorrhaging wound. If eye contact would keep Danny in this world until medical help arrived, Steve would hold it without blinking, however long it took.

Confident that help was on the way, Steve let the phone's handset fall to the floor and spoke again to the fallen man. "Danno, stay with me. I know I'm hurting you with this pressure on your chest, but we've got to stem the bleeding."

"Steeeeve," came the almost inaudible sound from Danny's lips.

Steve silently thanked heaven for this response from his friend. "Easy. Easy. The ambulance is coming. I'm here, Danno. I'm not leaving you."

"Gregs…?"

Barely hearing him, Steve confirmed his words. "Gregson? Yeah, Danno, we got him. He's dead."

"Pau," Danny said. Steve nodded in agreement.

Danny slowly closed his eyes-which scared Steve to his soul-then quietly spoke haltingly, "Don't… forget….''

Frightened by the fact that Danno had broken the gaze Steve had held so important, Steve also struggled now with what Danno might be trying to say. _Does he feel like he is dying?_ What might he be trying to say if he thinks these are his final moments? He didn't want to hear it- _he's not dying!_

But he also didn't want _not_ to allow his friend to make his final peace if he might indeed lose this battle. Cramped by the uncomfortable position of his long legs, Steve readjusted his body on the floor as he tried to draw even nearer to his friend. "What, Danno, what is it? Tell me, my friend. Don't forget... _what?_ "

While his facial grimaces of pain increased and indicated he was still somewhat conscious, Danny was silent.

"Danno, I…." Steve stuttered with what he wanted to say. Wrestling with his emotions, he could only whisper, "Keep fighting, Danno. Keep fighting." Then struggling to produce a tight smile, Steve continued, "I need you at my side, Danno, not just mementos of you in a box up in my closet."

At those words, Danny opened his eyes, just barely, to meet Steve's gaze once again.

To Steve's relief, HPD police officers and paramedics swept in just then with their equipment and swiftly took over Steve's care of the still-living victim, as the Five-O chief updated them on Danny's condition so far. They packed the gunshot wound tightly to further stem the bleeding, took vital signs, and started oxygen without eliciting as much as a murmur from the patient before carefully loading Danny onto their gurney, all under Steve's close scrutiny. As they moved to exit the apartment, the now semi-conscious patient became agitated and reached his hand out to Steve.

Grasping the outstretched hand lightly, Steve comforted him. "Danno, they're taking you to the hospital. You can talk to me later," he hoped. "I'm going to the hospital with you."

From beneath the oxygen mask, Danno pleaded, "Noooooooo, Steve… Get your…" and ran out of breath.

"What, what is it, Danno?" as he held the weak hand even tighter.

Leaning close, Steve heard him say the muffled word, "Keys…."

Steve turned around and indeed saw keys on the floor near the sprawled body of Walter Gregson. They were the keys to his boat that he had lent Danno hours before. He picked them up and turned in bewilderment toward Danno on the gurney. But Danny's eyes were closed, and he was silent and still.

McGarrett rushed to touch the injured man's shoulder and looked up in panic at the paramedic, who had also checked on the patient as Danny fell silent. He spoke up in reassurance, "He's just lost consciousness, that's all. I'm surprised he stayed with us this long; he's lost a lot of blood."

Steve pocketed the keys as he said, "OK, let's go. Hurry." As an afterthought, he called to one of the familiar HPD officers, "Arnie, that's Walter Gregson dead over there. Make sure that my team is notified about what has happened here."

"Yes, sir," the officer acknowledged, although Steve was out the door of Danny's apartment already.

 **H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~**

Steve waited in the hospital corridor for Doc Bergman's initial report on Danno's condition. Danny had not regained consciousness during the trip to the ER. Riding in the ambulance with him, Steve was somber, allowing the paramedics to have all the quiet they needed to concentrate. Seeing the urgency in their methods terrified him of what news he might hear at the hospital.

Shortly after Chin and Ben arrived to join Steve at the hospital, Doc emerged from the examination room. "Is he going to be all right, Doc?" Steve questioned.

Clearly reading the expected anxiety and apprehension on Steve's face, Doc could truthfully only give a neutral answer at this point. "It's too early to tell, you know that. You've been with him. He's bled out a lot. A serious wound like this just leaves too many unanswered questions until we get him into surgery. We're prepping him now."

Steve pressed on. "How long do you think the surgery will take?"

Exasperated with Steve's pushiness, but understanding of the concern of the close-knit group of men before him, Doc tried to reassure them gently while still being honest in his evaluation. "I don't know. Most of the night, I would imagine. I've asked another surgeon to join me in the operating room. We won't know until we open his chest just how much damage there is. Can you tell us anything more about how the shooting occurred?"

Steve sighed and started describing what he thought might be helpful. "I didn't see him get shot, but I know he was shot with his own .38, which Gregson had gotten away from him somehow. Danno was defending himself with his .22 caliber pistol. I heard the gunfire from the hall outside the apartment, and one of the shots was muffled," he commented. Chin and Ben hung on every word as each could see in his mind's eye the confrontation between Danny and his sworn enemy.

"Unfortunately, I think I can explain the muffling of the shot, gentlemen," Doc added. "Danny's gunshot wound was inflicted at almost point-blank range. Even with all the blood loss, I could see clear evidence of substantial gunpowder residue on his clothes and even in the wound."

Steve's jaws clenched at the news, as they all fell silent as the seriousness of Dan Williams' injury sank in.

Sensing the rising tide of gloom in the men before him, Doc tried to temper the weight of the discussion. "Look, I know you're all going to be planted in the waiting room for quite a while, so if I get a chance to send you updates, you know I will."

Just as Doc was about to turn to leave, Steve spoke up, though quietly, "Doc, one more thing. Did he wake up any more after we got him here to the ER?"

"No, Steve, he's been unconscious since his arrival, but it's not surprising. And the anesthesia may have already started by now, so you won't be able to see him before the surgery, I'm sorry to say."

Pausing in thought, Doc Bergman brushed back his own wavy hair in a move reminiscent of Danny's own nervous habit and allowed, "I've grown quite fond of Danny." Piercing McGarrett with direct eye contact, he said, "You know that we'll do everything we can."

Steve smiled and concurred, touching the doctor on the shoulder of his white medical jacket, "We know you'll do your best."

With a final nod, Doctor Bergman left to catch the elevator to the OR, leaving the others to wait. It was going to be a long night.

 **H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~ H5O ~**

The next morning couldn't come soon enough for the tired team of colleagues. By 4:00 am, Doc Bergman had sent good news from the operating room. The medical team had removed the bullet and meticulously repaired the damage. Danno had broken ribs from the impact of the bullet and lung damage with bleeding into one of the lungs. He required intubation and would be on a ventilator for a while. The doctors had been pleased to guardedly project Danno's recovery, in time. Soon thereafter, Chin and Ben headed home while Steve waited to see his colleague.

Later that morning, Danny was wheeled into a regular hospital room following the long surgery and time in the recovery room, and Steve was allowed to join him there. He would have a chest tube in place for a while, and attending nurses and other medical personnel checked on him closely and regularly. Steve paced in the background, uncharacteristically quiet and trying hard to quell his questions and concerns about his friend's medical—and emotional—condition.

When Danny slowly awoke to the very uncomfortable fog that accompanies major trauma and surgery, not to mention pain and the discomfort of the ventilator, his eyes scanned the room uncertainly and winced at the bright lights. Danny's forehead wrinkled up at his distress. He tried to lift his hand up to the ventilator tubing, but the nurse gently dissuaded him from touching it. Then he tried to touch the fresh surgical dressings on his chest. He looked at the attending nurse who had trapped his hand by his side…, then around at his cold, sterile surroundings…, then in the general direction of his boss and friend.

Steve greeted him with a whisper from close by. "Good morning," Steve said softly, and then thought he shouldn't sound so chipper. He could clearly see that Danny was in pain. "I'm here, Danno."

Although he could not speak due to the ventilator, Danny stared at Steve with a frightened look. In his most reassuring voice, Steve whispered back, "You're going to be all right, Danno. Doc Bergman's taking good care of you. Gregson shot you, but he won't bother you anymore. The bullet's out, and you're on the mend. You just have to take it easy for a while." To those words, Steve got just a slow blink of understanding, but that was good enough to evoke in the 'man of steel' a slight, tired smile.

Later that day, the ventilator was removed. Steven was thankful as he could see that it was a huge relief to the patient because of the discomfort. In a while, Danny rallied enough to speak softly to Steve, "You came… to my place… just in time."

Steve agreed, "Yeah, I guess I did."

"Thanks." Danny spoke, but his eyes were closed. Steve couldn't tell whether he was drifting back to sleep or just conserving his meager energy. Soon he realized he was not sleeping, as Danny needed to talk, "I didn't kill Walter, did I? I didn't want to…, I mean, I did…, but I didn't…."

"I know, I know. The shots you fired slowed him down, but I was the one who killed him, after he shot you and then fired on me." Danny had been through so much in just the last 24 hours, he soothed gently. "It's not your fault, Danno. He had to know he wasn't getting away."

"Yeah." Danny was quiet for a while, and then opened his eyes to talk to Steve again. "He told me… Jane wasn't supposed to be… his next victim."

Intrigued by the statement, but well aware this was not the time to discuss it, Steve replied, "Danno, I want you to tell me all about what happened in your apartment, and what Gregson said to you, but not now. You need to rest."

Before Danny quietened down again, he said—almost as if he were only talking to himself- "What if… Jane had lived…." Then he seemed to fall back asleep.

It was just as well, as Steve had no response to that sad thought—no way to sooth the memories of a dream that was never to be. He thought of the cruel words that Gregson had said to Danno in his phone call. He remembered the box in Danno's closet-the mementos, the ring, the detachment in Danno's face as he packed it all away again.

So much for his friend to have lived with for so long. _You need to rest, and heal._

Steve took a seat to begin the wait for Danny's long recovery—six years in the making. He would be there to help.

Reaching in his pocket, Steve pulled out the keys to his boat, looked at them, then fisted them and smiled to himself. _A little sunshine and an ocean breeze will do you good. Not today, but soon, bruddah, soon._

 **PAU**


End file.
